The European Tour and officials from Celtic Manor are this evening meeting in crisis session to discuss how a man, dressed in a Wales rugby shirt with the word “Brains” emblazoned in large lettering across the chest, managed to breach security and engage in a silent protest on day one of the Wales Open.

The “Brains” message on the shirt is thought to refer to the European Tour’s lack of Grey Matter in allowing any member of the TV viewing public with an email account to acts as interactive referees at Tour events.

“It’s very rare for anyone to attend day one of the Wales Open” said a Tour official “but it’s particularly sad to see someone enter with a protest slogan on his clothing. Perhaps when he showed up at the turnstiles, he took staff by surprise and they failed to notice the offensive message.”

With up two 100 spectators expected to attend the final round at the Ryder Cup venue, one extra security gaurd is being deployed to prevent a recurrence of such an incident.

Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal brought his Celtic Manor press conference down a notch in tone by revealing candidly that he struggling to find the length to get the job done.

“It’s great to be here,” he said. “It's a big event, but I’m struggling to get it up at this venue. Obviously I have wonderful memories from two years ago, but on that occasion I didn’t need to get it up or ‘perform’ in front of huge crowds.

“There are certain areas that I have to improve, but some other areas I'm pretty happy with. I’m pretty good at getting it into the hole and I’ve never been phased by the thickness of the bushes here in the Valleys. The key is to stay clear of the most of that notorious thick bush which runs the length of the back side.

“But all I can do is just work at it. I would love to score well again. I still have a load to give.”

We are looking for 6 readers to join us for an Aimpoint day out at Mount Juliet on July 13th.

The day will kick off with a free early morning Aimpoint Clinic with certified instructors Donal Scott and Gareth McShea on the putting green worth €100. After breakfast we will treat you to a round on the iconic Mount Juliet course.

Golf and the Aimpoint Clinic are all free and on me. We will choose 3 lucky winners this week and another 3 next week!

Enter through the widget on the left hand side.

Congratulations to last week’s winner Ursula Morris, Carrigaline, Cork who wins a fourball in Mount Juliet.

What is it that saw Luke Donald cruise past the field at Wentworth last week? Top teaching pro Wayne O’Callaghan thinks he knows how.

One of the keys to Luke Donald’s win at the BMW PGA Championship was his ability to play a controlled fade from the tee. A fade on the 18th gave Donald the chance of reaching the green in two shots as the hole doglegs from left to right with bunkers on the left side of the fairway and trees down the right. It’s a great shot to have in your arsenal.

A number of factors are required to play a fade which is a shot that curves the ball from left to right in the air for a right handed golfer. Try to visualize the shot before attempting to play it as it will give you a great image of where to start the ball and where you will want it to finish. Tee the ball a fraction lower than normal as this makes it easier to create fade spin on the ball. It is critical than you aim the clubface where you want the ball to start and not where you want it to finish. The body should be aligned left of the target line, the amount left varies on how much you want to move the ball from left to right in the air. Finally make sure to swing the club on the body line and not the target line and watch how the ball fades to the right. Practice by placing a couple of alignment rods on the ground one lining the body left of the target line and the other where you want the ball to start as shown in the picture.

Since rangefinders became legal to use in club competition the whole market has blossomed. One of the latest units on the market is the GPS Golf Buddy Voice, a “talking” golf GPS unit that is no bigger than a poker chip. The device clips onto your belt, your hat or just about anything.

Inside is a processor onto which every course imaginable is preloaded. It has a speaker just loud enough to hear yourself but not to drive your partners mental and gives yardages both numerically and verbally to the front, middle and back of the green.

There's no annual subscriptions or course download charges after buying the unit and for those of us in Ireland and the UK it comes with a cool little silicone case to protect it in rain.

The GPS GolfBuddy locates the course and hole automatically once switched on. One slight disadvantage might be in the yardage given from the tee which is “as the crow flies” to the green! It doesn’t allow for doglegs. Its also important to be standing still for a few seconds before pressing the yardage button. But that's the same as with any rangefinder.

The Golfbuddy GPS voice wont instantly replace your handheld binocular type GPS (I carry a Bushnell Tour V2) that gives yardages to the flag but is excellent for giving an accurate measurement of the plus-or-minus yardages from the centre, back or front of the green.

Another nice feature is the ability to measure how far you hit the ball. You just press a button from where you hit the ball, hit it again when you get to the ball and listen to the distance. The Golf Buddy Voice has a rechargeable 8-hour lithium battery, which should be good for two rounds.

Congrats to those who dashed from the BMW PGA Championship to Walton Heath for final qualifying for the US Open. Defending Wales Open champ Alex Noren topped the qualifiers who also included Ireland’s Peter Lawrie who will only play in his second ever Major Championship.

Congrats and well done to David Higgins on his top 10 at the BMW PGA Championship. Here’s the juice on the Waterville pro.

Profile

Born 1/12/72

Attachment: Waterville GC

Turned Pro: 1994

Amateur wins (3)

1989 Irish Boys Championship

1994 Irish Amateur Closed Championship, South of Ireland Championship

Challenge Tour wins (4)

2000 NCC Open

2000 Günther Hamburg Classic

2000 Rolex Trophy

Domestic PGA wins (1)

1995 Ulster PGA Championship

Getting To Know David

Most Memorable Honours

Winning the Irish Boys and Youths were great and the South of Ireland but my first Challenge Tour win in Sweden in 2000 was very special.

What’s Playing On Your ipod at The Moment

Would you believe I don’t have an ipod, but I’m a big Paolo Nutini fan. I’ve been to see him three times now! (sings) Get your new shoes on!

Lowest 18 Hole Score in Competition

I shot 61 in a Pro Am in Wexford. I forgot my putter and bought one in the pro shop before the round. The pro said to pay him after. After three putting the first I wasn’t to happy, but then went 12 under for the next 17 holes. I went back into the shop after to pay for the putter and the pro wanted €2000 for it!

Favourite Film

True Romance. A great cast and a great story. It resonates with a really happy time in my life.

Favourite Course

Waterville Of Course!

Best Shot You Have Hit With People Watching

I would say my best shot was a 10 foot putt for the win in a playoff against Carlos Rodiles to secure my third Challenge Tour win in Germany.

Favourite Sport Other Than Golf

I love watching soccer

Favourite Team

My favourite team is Manchester United. I’ve been over a good few times. My favourite player was Keano but now I’m a big Rooney fan!

Winner Alright: Last week we tipped Zach Johnson at 15/1 and Luke Donald at 10/1. A Double!

Justin Rose 21/1

The Memorial Tournament in 2010 marked the first PGA Tour win for Justin Rose. Since then he has won twice more and added a WGC event to his trophy cabinet earlier this year. Second to Luke Donald in Wentworth last week Rose boosted his Ryder Cup points tally and he now stands third in the European Points list. Atlantic hopping exhaustion aside Rose has the form and the course knowledge to contend at this US Open preview.

Jim Furyk 36/1

A past winner at Dublin surely another victory is coming soon for Furyk. Since losing a playoff to Luke Donald at The Transitions Furyk posted another top 10 at The Heritage and took fourth place on his own last week at Colonial with a fine putting performance in the final round. Though he missed the cut last year, Jim has been in contention here two out the last three years, finishing second to Woods in 2009.

Ryan Moore 65/1

The Memorial has special memories for Ryan Moore. He finished second here in 2007 having got into the event as an alternate. He birdied five of the last six holes but could manage par on the last and finished one behind KJ Choi. Moore has gone on to record two more top 10’s since (2008 and 2010) and has been on good form recently with good finishes at the Valero in Texas and the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow. At betting odds at 65/1, even a place would pay handsomely.

Jonathan Byrd 75/1

A five time winner on Tour Jonathan Byrd and you wouldn’t rule out making it six with his impressive recent form. Tied for 11th last week at Colonial to add to his 12th at The Players and ninth at Quail Hollow. Byrd has a best of tied third at Muirfield Village in 2009 when Tiger won and he tied seventh again last year.

Rickie Fowler 24/1

Rickie is on a super run of form recently. Since winning the Wells Fargo, he tied second at Sawgrass and tied fifth last week at Colonial. Had one hand on this tournament two years ago but shot a final round 73 and got overtaken by a storming Justin Rose.

Best Of The Rest

Winning last week at Wentworth and regaining the world number one crown will mean an exhaustive session of media commitments on top of jet lag for Luke Donald 11/1 who has to have one eye now on a US Open tilt. If he’s up for it this week he cant be ruled out, having tied for seventh last year.

Long odds glory tip this week is veteran Brandt Jobe at 210/1. Never a win on Tour but came mighty close here last tying second. If Dicky Pride can have a good week there’s no reason that Jobe cant front up too!

Jesus Christ weighed into the whole Zach Johnson ball marking scandal late last night and was not a happy bunny. In a statement issued from his penthouse apartment in Vatican City Jesus said

“I get on great with Zach ordinarily, but if he is going to be throwing my name around willy nilly and thanking me for everything, he had better start paying attention to where his ball is marked. Had he lost, it would have been very embarrassing for me and the Catholic Church as a whole. We are already up shit creek with all the paedophile priests that signed up in the sixties. Imagine me having to try and explain this to my father? He would be royally pissed. Trust me”.

Jesus has refused to comment on whether he would be helping Johnson at the US Open claiming it could affect betting odds.

As Zach Johnson stood over his six footer on the last with a three shot lead, Peter Kostis at the side of the green asked “did any of you guys see Zach replace his marker?” Johnson had marked his ball one putter length to the right to avoid the line of playing partner Jason Dufner. On replacing his ball Johnson clean forgot to move it back one putter head.

Thankfully he got the putt for par and walked off the green thinking he had won by three shots. Seconds after, he was reminded of his error and issued a two shot penalty. He signed for a six on the last, giving him a one shot win and avoiding ultimate embarrassment.

Check out these quotes from Ernie Els after more criticism about the greens at Wentworth. This time he’s agreeing they are crap.

"I've asked them to put water on the bloody greens and then I spoke to JP [John Paramor – the European Tour's chief referee] coming up the 15th and he said we did water it last night. I said you have to triple that. You have a damn 30mph easterly breeze blowing so put fucking water on the greens. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out."

"How much money did we spend on the 18th? We built a dam there. Why the hell was the green not holding?"My point is, you hit a driver and then a four-iron gets you in the middle of the green. What else must you do next? Must I be the greenkeeper here? I'm a player, I'm not even supposed to tell them. Put water on a damn golf course? Surely they should know that? I can't control the wind and (it seems) I can't control the greens staff either."

"You've just got to play within yourself, you can't go playing wild shots or you are just going to get killed."It's like a major championship test. In two weeks' time at the U.S. Open, if you are just marginally off you'll get killed. We tried to bring that element in here but you don't have to kill guys."

Got to feel for Graeme McDowell today on the last hole. Whilst looking in the trees for his ball, which the Sky TV camera already had it in perfect focus, GMac steps on branches which caused his ball to move. It was clearly seen on TV.

However nobody bothered to tell McDowell who, unsure of whether it had moved, hit the ball as it lay without replacing it.

Walking down the fairway GMac got talking to Sky on course analyst Richard Boxall who in turn set up a video review with referee John Paramor before handing in his card.

The result? What McDowell thought was a 6 on the last, turned into an 8 and a round of 74.

1 shot penalty for ‘causing’ the ball to move in the trees.
1 shot pemalty for not replacing the ball to its original position before hitting it.

As most of you know, Ireland lost one of it’s top professional golfers and characters, Connor Mallon, earlier this year. On Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th June the Connor Mallon Memorial 2012 takes place at Narin & Portnoo golf club. It’s a great chance to celebrate Connor’s life, play golf and meet friends. All proceeds from the event will go towards supporting the Mallon Family.

More grainy audio from the Tora Bora caves in Florida. The FBI have
verified it is the real Tiger Woods on the tape. Woods talks about
winning in his 50's.

"Absolutely,
100 percent agree with that. It just has to be on the right golf
course. It can't be, at that age - well, by the time I'm at that age,
it'll be some golf courses over 8,000 yards. It's probably not going to
be at one of those; it's probably going to be at a shorter golf course
like you'd find at a British Open. Tom [Watson], at Turnberry, it was
like the perfect Open. It was howling, it was a golf course he had won
on and knew how to play and it was playing very quick. … You can
certainly see a certain player playing into their 50s and being
successful on a certain venue. You can't do it on all venues, there's no
doubt. Some ballparks are just too big."

Thanks to our man Barrie Trainor for wearing the golfcentraldaily.com logo at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week. Ryan Gribben tweeted in this photo of Barrie’s muscley arm (ahem) from the course. Best of luck Baz!

Zach Johnson 15/1

Expect a Zach attack this week at Colonial, one of the oldest stops on Tour. With a two seconds (at Sawgrass and another at Hilton Head) in his last three starts Zach is bang on form and coming to a par 70 that suits him down to the ground. He won here two years ago and hasn't been outside the top 10 in his last three appearences here.

Bo Van Pelt 28/1

Got a victory under his belt last year when the PGA spread its tenticles into Malaysia. He got it to 23 under on a similarly yielding course to Colonial which makes me believe he can contend again this week. Bo has been a money machine on Tour this year with five top-10's from his last nine events, but without ever really pushing for a win. Fnished with a 65 here last year to come third, his best in eight visits. Fully recovered now from a wrist injury that hampered his early season.

Brian Davis 70/1

The Englishman has gone a little off the boil since top fives at the Arnold Palmer and Houston Open but remains one to watch this week. Davis shot 64,65,65,68 on his way to second here in 2010 behind Zach Johnson. Opened with a 73 at the tough TPC Four Seasons last week but followed it with a 65 to make the cut. Nobody more deserving of a win.

Hunter Mahan 30/1

The Houston Open winner has slipped out in the betting to 30/1 after a dismal display at The Players. Colonial however is more up Hunter's street as it plays short and has a premium on straight driving. The new Ping Nome putter has been very effective on the greens at Dove Mountain and Redstone already this year and should be perfectly suited here. Led the combined shotlink stats in fairways and greens hit here last year on his way to a best of tied 10th.

Best Of The Rest

Ryan Palmer at 55/1 is just too good not to add to his 2010 Sony Open win soon. He has two top 10's in his last three starts. Keep an eye on him. It has been a great week so far for the PGA Tour rookie Harris English 85/1 who qualified top of the leaderboard at a British Open Qualifier down the road. His 17 under for two rounds included a 60. It's only his 15 tournament this week and he's already clocked a top 10 a month ago at the RBC Heritage. It might be too soon for win here but I fancy English to ride the wave a little longer and maybe get a podium finish. I also noticed Andres Romero at 360/1 on betfair today. A few caddies told me he's striping it nicely so has to be worth at least a euro/pound/dollar!

Last years Walker Cupper Harris English is on his way back to Britain after qualifying in style for the 141st Open Championship on July 19-22 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. The PGA Tour rookie shot 17-under including a 60 to win the Open’s International Final Qualifying America by four strokes over England’s Greg Owen (66-61).

Eight spots were up for grabs and the scoring was off the charts. Stephen Ames (69-61), Andres Romero and Justin Hicks (67-63) tied for third at the 6,871-yard qualifying course.

The last three places went to Bob Estes, Daniel Chopra and James Driscoll after they eliminated Russell Knox of Nairn Dunbar, Scotland in a playoff

Among those to miss out were Tommy (Two Gloves) Gainey and Ryan Moore.

Luke's caddie John McLaren is always on the range minutes before his boss. He lays out every ball in an exact pattern, corresponding with the clubs to be used, as Luke practices hitting the same number of shots before every round.

A twine on two rods is affixed to reassure alignment and a motivational thought for the day is set on the ground to focus the mind on the round ahead. Before his third round at The Players Championship the note read

“The pursuit for perfection is a long and difficult journey. Only a few are strong enough to make it to the end. Our journey continues…”

To Celebrate a June chock full of great events at Mount Juliet, Tom Kennedy has given us a readers prize of a fourball at the iconic venue. Enter through the competition widget on the left hand side and be sure to check out the Mount Juliet June Event Guide and links below.

Anne Marie Kennedy from Yoga For Golf Ireland is our teaching bay contributor. Anne Marie works with Ireland’s elite amateurs, training them to maximize their flexibility, and power in their game through yoga. For more details check out www.yogaforgolf.ie

Golf Benefit: This pose builds full body strength and stamina. It lengthens the spine for better posture and strengthens the wrists and hands for better grip and impact position.

Instruction: Begin on hands and knees, spread the fingers wide and creep the hands forward slightly ensuring that they are not directly underneath the shoulders. On an exhalation tuck the toes under and slowly lift the knees off the mat, raising the sit bones up towards the ceiling. Working to keep the spine long and the shoulder muscles engaged, push the arms away from the mat, gently moving the chest back toward the thighs until the ears are parallel with the upper arms. At first peddle out the legs if the hamstrings feel tight bringing one heel to the mat at a time. Work slowly to straighten your knees ensuring not to lock out them out. Keep the hips and sit bones lifted and push strongly into your hands. Hold for 5-10 breaths.

Luke Donald 10/1

It’s a super field this week at Wentworth with the likes of McIlroy and Westwood primed and ready for action. Of the favorites though, I fancy Luke Donald. The new Wentworth rewards greens in regulation merchants and Donald traditionally tops the stats in that category here. The winner in 2011 and just one back when tying second in 2010, Donald is on a decent run of recent form too finishing 3rd in New Orleans and 6th at The Players since winning the Transitions in March.

Marcus Fraser 100/1

A year after being laid up with a hand injury Marcus Fraser is back to his best on Tour. Top 10’s in his last starts at the China Open (6th) and at the Ballantines (3rd) at the end of April. A final round 67 vaulted the Aussie into a tie for fourth here last year.

Matteo Manassero 55/1

What a star this kid is turning out to be. Still only 19, Matteo comes here with four top 10’s in his last five starts. Two of those were in Spain, one in Morocco and one in Malaysia. Last time out at the Open De Espana the Italian was cruising until a poor third round but still managed 7th. That was almost a carbon copy of the case at Wentworth last year where he was at the head of the leaderboard after day three only to shoot a final round 75 on day four to again tie 7th. Wentworth owes Matteo something.

Ben Curtis 46/1

Just a couple of months ago, Ben Curtis was without his PGA Tour card and planning a season including several European Tour starts. That’s all changed for Curtis now having won in Texas , finished fifth at Quail Hollow and second last time out at Sawgrass. So it’s a nice touch to turn up and give the nod of thanks to the European Tour this week. Curtis knows Wentworth pretty well too having played in this event in 2009. He tied sixth.

Ian Poulter 48/1

Things are on the up for Ian Poulter after a poor season opening which may be attributed to much happening at home including building a new house. In his last six starts however Poults has finished under par and never been outside the top 30, with a best of third at Arnie’s tournament. Finished down in 13th last year after a final round 75. Don’t let that put you off however. Poulter was statistically the straightest driver here last year and also lead the greens in regulation stats. One good week with the putter could yield a win.

Best Of The Rest

Simon Dyson’s (55/1) season has still yet to kick off but the Englishman will be desperate for a Ryder Cup spot and can boost his chances greatly with a good finish here. Showed an improvement at the Open de Espana where he finished 12th and will look forward to a Wentworth course where his woods and irons combined were the statistically best in the field in 2011.

Two recent winners to watch out for here. Francesco Molinari(42/1) may not have great course form at Wentworth but he has been remarkably consistent to date this season with sixth top 20’s before his recent win at the Open de Espana. Another player I will be tracking this week is Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (110/1), impressive winner of the Ballantine’s Championship

2012 HP Byron Nelson Championship Final Round Highlights

Just got pics from Barrie Trainor who is packing his bags ahead of travelling to Wentworth to takes his place in the field for the BMW PGA Championship. Barrie’s clothing sponsor Kartel provided the kit which also proudly carries the logos of Golfbidder and golfcentraldaily.com.

As part of the contract Barrie has to:

Shoot 64 on Thursday then hunt down Tim Barter for a Sky Sports interview to flash the logos

Track down Rory McIlroy in the players lounge and get a pic of him kissing the golfcentraldaily logo. Should be easy!

Great news from golfaholics this morning about Augusta National bowing to pressure and embracing women members. Here is Billy Payne walking back from the first tee with his hammer after installing this sign with conditions.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Dan McLoughlin who is spending 10,000 hours to get from never having hit a ball to being on the PGA Tour. He’s trying to prove a theory that if you practice like mad you can be an expert. You decide.

Have you heard about the round of 55 shot by Rhein Gibson a couple of days ago. I initially thought it was a hoax but now one of his playing partners on the day Ryan Munson has written this account of what happened and several people witnessed. Gibson plays the GolfWeek Tour and won the Oklahoma Open on the same Oak Tree course back in 2010.
Here’s the link to the full article on golfpigeon"Still playing?" was the message that Rhein Gibson sent to me at 7:13am on Saturday, May 12th, 2012. There had been hours and hours of rain overnight Friday and earlier in the morning. River Oaks Golf Club was wet, but it wasn't closed."Of course", I responded. After all, the regulars of this group miss very few Saturday morning rounds of golf.Rhein Gibson, a rangy 26 year old from "down under" is very familiar with River Oaks; it is the home club of Oklahoma Christian University, the program that brought him from Australia to play college golf. He is now a member of the club, but he is also an aspiring PGA TOUR golfer. The Golfweek National Professional Golf Tour is Rhein's first step towards the accomplishment of that dream and it keeps him on the road in many cases for 3 weeks at a time. Rhein's ball striking is incredibly solid and he can roll the putter as well as anyone. In the game of golf though, sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. On this day, they would fall.The group began to trickle in for the 8:15 am tee time that would start on number 10 due to the Saturday "dual-tee" scheduling. There was no particular rush as the driving range was closed due to the muddy conditions caused by the rain, so warm-up time would be limited to rolling a few putts on the practice green.River Oaks number 10 is a tricky par 4 because the green is guarded on three sides by a pond that punishes approach shots that are too short or too long. Rhein carded a fairly pedestrian par after a 3 iron, a wedge and 2 putts.The par 5 number 11 allowed for Rhein's first swing with his brand new Cleveland Classic driver that had arrived a couple days earlier. BOOM! No, not even BOOM comes close to describing this ball as it left the tee box. Rhein's drive was right down the middle and longer than a politician's speech. He turned, looked at us, and just giggled. "Good luck catching that one." He had a 4 iron into the 555 yarder. His approach found the green and his putt was stroked purely. The ball fell in for an eagle.

Great story from the Daily.com about the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship that took place last weekend.

Pictured are the poor, disadvantaged, minority women of Bethune-Cookman who won for the second time in three years. Most of the team is made up of European's; Austrians, Spanish and British girls rescued from a continent gripped by recession, debt, political uncertainty and Simon Cowell.

The Championship was created by a group of wealthy African American businessmen, to encourage and give minorities the chance to play competitive golf.

“All of your golfers are white,” said Renee Powell, only the second black woman to play on the LPGA Tour told the coach only to have it pointed out that Bethune-Cookman is made up of 94.3% African-American and 1.5% white students.

Shrugging her shoulders Powell added, “If you’re a young black golfer, you might decide you have to play a little harder. After all, you can look at it this way: Those white girls are minorities at their school.”

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All images used is in this site are under the licences of the Irish Examiner or are the property of Donal Hughes. If you would like to use one of my what's in the bag images, no problem but please give www.golfcentraldaily.com a link.